“Color Management” Basics by blog guest Color Inc Pro Lab

Color Inc Pro Lab is who I use for my printing. I love the way my prints look true to life. And I have received amazing customer service. I contacted them to see if they would be a guest on my blog. They have agreed to do periodic articles teaching you more about printing.

Today’s article will educate you on some basics of Color Management and Color Profiles.

Also read at the bottom for an exclusive code for new customers.

Color Management Basics by Color Inc Pro Lab

Color Management is one of these headache-inducing struggles that early photographers face. How do you ensure that color in a print, will match color on a monitor? Luckily, with the proper tools and a little bit of effort, you can get pretty accurate colors between your images and prints.

The most important part of color management deals with your computer monitor. Invest in a monitor calibration kit, such as an eye-one display 2 (X-Rite) or Spyder 2 (ColorVision). For instance, Color Incorporated sells the eye-one display 2 for just $240.00 These devices hang from your monitor and measure its output, in order to suggest proper monitor settings and color values. They usually create monitor color profiles you can use as well.

Additionally, you can use tools such as Adobe Photoshop to enforce color management. Simply select “Edit-> Color Settings” (see attached screenshot). This will instruct photoshop to display images in sRGB (Working Space), and alert you if you open a non-RGB profiled image.

Getting color managed takes some time and effort. If your busy, or just want someone else to handle the color for you, you can opt for additional service, such as ColorInc’s color correction and artwork services. ColorInc’s Color Corrected Proofs are only 39 cents each.

These tools are important, because color space (such as sRGB) offer different colors. For instance, most cameras take photos in color spaces larger than sRGB (such as Adobe RGB). However, because printers do not print all of the colors that Adobe RGB contains, you can run into color management issues where a photo you have, contains a color that can’t be printed.

Sticking to calibrated equipment and profiles helps alleviate this issue, by only allowing specific colors that are within print range. This should keep your colors matched, and photos looking great!